Why Are American Colleges So Ridiculously Expensive?

Today’s Issue

College is more expensive in America than in almost any other country in the world. In this issue, we discuss why.

One answer, from the journalist Amanda Ripley: “We’re the only country other than Luxembourg that spends more on nonteaching staff than on teaching staff at the college level.” (We’ll get to the Luxembourg question later.)

Amanda Ripley is the author of a story in the new Atlantic series, “The Great College Rip-Off.” We spoke with Ripley about what she learned from writing the piece.

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